Ultra-Light Nanotechnology Material Withstands Supersonic Impacts Better Than Kevlar

Engineers from Caltech, MIT, and ETH Zurich designed a novel carbon-based material that could be the base for tougher alternatives to steel and Kevlar. The accompanying study highlights the material's designs from patterned nanoscale structures that show promise as a lightweight armoire, blast shield, protective coating, and other impact-resistant materials.

Designing a Lighter & Tougher Kevlar Alternative

Researchers fabricated ultra-light materials from nanometer-scale carbon, which provides toughness and mechanical robustness to the material. The team of engineers behind the material tested its resiliency by bombarding it with microparticles at supersonic speeds. They found that the material, which is thinner than human hair, prevented the miniature projectiles from tearing through the material's lattice.

Calculations showed that compared to conventional Kevlar used in various impact-resistance items, aluminum, and other comparable materials, the newly designed nanotechnology impact-resistant lattice was significantly more efficient in absorbing impacts.

Carlos Portela, lead author and assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, explains that the same amount of the material invented would be much more efficient at resisting and stopping projectiles than the same amount of conventional Kevlar, according to SciTechDaily.

If mass producers, the new material and other nanoarchitecture materials hold the potential to be the base for tougher, lighter alternatives to steel and Kevlar.

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Nanoarchitected Materials

The study published in the journal Nature Materials, entitled "Supersonic impact resilience of nanoarchitected carbon," explains how nanoarchitected materials consist of weaving patterns in nanometer-scale which, depending on its lattice arrangement, gives the material unique properties like resiliency and lightness.

Portela explains that science knew about how materials respond in a slow-deformation regime, where practical use hypothetically has real-world applications despite nothing deforming slowly.

The team of researchers set out to analyze nanoarchitected materials under fast deformation conditions like high-velocity impacts. At Caltech, the team first fabricated the nanoarchitected materials with two-photon lithography that utilizes fast, high-powered lasers to solidify minute structures within a photosensitive resin. The team then constructed a repetitive lattice named tetrakaidecahedron comprising microscopic struts.

Portela explains that the shapes often appear in energy-mitigating foams. On the other hand, carbon is naturally brittle; the arrangement of the small size lattice in the nanoarchitected material gives it a unique rubbery, bending-dominated characteristic.

In order to test the material's characteristics and resilience to extreme deformation, engineers conducted microparticle impact experiments at the MIT campus utilizing laser-induced particle impact tests. The aim was to pass ultrafast lasers through a glass slide coated with a gold film that is coated with the layer of microparticles. As the laser passed through the glass, it generates plasma that pushes silicon oxide out in the direction of the laser. This phenomenon causes microparticles to accelerate towards their target.

In the future, Portela explains that the framework can be utilized by researchers to predict the resilience of other designed nanoarchitected materials. The team planning to explore various configurations and other materials well beyond carbon in nano-scale in an effort to design lighter, tougher protective material that significantly surpasses Kevlar.